- Ashling O’Connor, partner, Bird & Co, worked as a sports business journalist before turning hand to senior level appointments in sport and entertainment
- New sports division at Bird & Co will help sports bodies meet UK government’s new diversity targets
- Target for proportion of female directors in UK sport rising from minimum of 25 to 30 per cent
The idea was that I could see the story in the numbers and read a balance sheet and see, for example, when Leeds United [football club] was about to go bust. You could see it in the numbers and they were about to [publish] their results the next day and I managed to get hold of someone who confirmed that Peter Ridsdale [the Leeds United chairman at the time] was going to resign and that the whole thing was going to go belly up. I asked the sports editor if it was a sports story and if we could get it on the front of the sports section and he trusted me.
You need a Premium subscription to access this content
Upgrade now to enjoy unlimited access to all our articles, insights, features and more
Already a subscriber? Sign in here